Oliver RistApple Leopard Server With updated administration and collaboration tools, Leopard is a must-have upgrade for Tiger Server users. Existing Windows Small Business Server customers won't see much reason to change, but Leopard is a viable alternative for those looking to buy a small-biz server for the first time&#151;no matter what clients are running on the rest of the network.

Installation upgrade takes a while, especially on slower hardware. Command-line knowledge is still a requirement for long-term use. No virtualization except through third-party software.

Bottom Line

With updated administration and collaboration tools, Leopard is a must-have upgrade for Tiger Server users. Existing Windows Small Business Server customers won't see much reason to change, but Leopard is a viable alternative for those looking to buy a small-biz server for the first timeno matter what clients are running on the rest of the network.

Apple's put a load of work into Leopard Server, and it shows. What was mainly a niche back-end platform for Mac users has evolved into a slick server that caters to a general small-business audience and will likely go head-to-head with Microsoft Small Business Server 2008 when that comes out later this year.

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Reviewing Apple Leopard Server was a tough one for me. With little previous Apple server experience, I did a little extra consulting with some outside experts to get a better handle on the differences between Leopard Server and Tiger Server. I also couldn't compare Leopard Server against Windows Server 2008, since the two are aimed at different tasks. When Windows Small Business Server 2008 and the new Windows Essential Server 2008 (code-named Centro) arrive early this summer, however, they'll go directly up against Apple's new cat, so look for some follow-up then. For now, this review comes from the perspective of a Windows SBS 2003 administrator playing around in Apple's server-side orchard for the first time. From that perspective, Apple's done a hell of a job.

My experts tell me that although Apple has always said that its server OS could work for any small business, Leopard is the first OS X server they've seen with real evidence of that. Previously, Apple-centric businesses, as well as Apple-oriented departments in large companies, made good use of OS X Server, especially when combined with Apple's XSAN high-end storage hardware. I won't comment on Tiger's success or failure in that area, but after exploring this OS for a while, I've concluded that Leopard is definitely a competitive all-purpose small-business server.

One feature I liked immediately was that, unlike Microsoft, Apple doesn't give you a hard time about buying just the OS software. You don't have to hire a Small Business Server 2003 certified partner to install Leopard Server or purchase a brand-new machine with SBS 2003 preinstalled. Plunk down your credit card and Apple sends you the DVD, no questions asked. You can then upgrade your existing Xserve or install the server on an unused Mac workstation or even a MacBook laptop. I tried to shanghai my Mom's Mac Mini for this, but she figured out what I was doing and shot a guilt missile at me. In the end, I wound up doing my testing on a new dual quad-core Intel Xeon Apple Xserve that Apple sent us for our recent small-business server roundup.

Installation immediately shows Apple's new small-business focus. While full-on Unix-guru advanced installation options are still present, there's also a medium-difficult Workgroup installation option (which loads just the services Apple thinks are needed for integrating the server into an existing corporate network) and a no-brainer Standard mode (which installs only those services Apple thinks are needed for a standalone server in a small-business environment). The installation wizard is what earns Standard mode its no-brainer rating: It asks just a few questions concerning your network environment and then clicks into auto-install mode. To be fair, the new Windows Server 2008 install is similar, which means that Small Business Server 2008's installation process will likely be even easier. You can't downgrade (turn your Advanced installation back to Workgroup, for example) with Leopard Server, but doing a clean reinstall takes care of that problem.Next: Leopard Server: Administration

Apple Leopard Server

excellent

Bottom Line: With updated administration and collaboration tools, Leopard is a must-have upgrade for Tiger Server users. Existing Windows Small Business Server customers won't see much reason to change, but Leopard is a viable alternative for those looking to buy a small-biz server for the first time&#151;no matter what clients are running on the rest of the network.